Red, Blue, Yellow 1951

This is Ellsworth Kelly’s “Red, Blue, Yellow,” and I love how he strips everything down to these basic chromatic fields. It’s so simple, yet the color feels incredibly complex. I’m fascinated by the surface here. There's no brushwork that I can see. The colors look very matte, almost like colored paper. The texture of the paper gives it a kind of ‘toothiness’. You can almost feel the surface of the paper. In the yellow, there is a kind of luminosity, like it is lit from behind. There is something about the way Kelly juxtaposes these colors that creates this strange sense of depth. It makes me think of Agnes Martin and how she used grids and pale colors to create these really subtle, shimmering fields. Both artists share a fascination with simplicity and the power of quiet, contemplative art. Isn't it great when a painting asks you to just slow down, look, and feel?